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This Week in Asia/Politics

Shenzhen stabbing: boy’s death sparks anger in Japan over China’s ‘anti-Japanese’ education

Editorials, analysts say the Chinese government’s policies have contributed to rising xenophobia and violence targeting Japanese nationals

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The fatal stabbing of a 10-year-old Japanese boy in the Chinese city of Shenzhen has ignited a wave of anger in Japan, with critics accusing Beijing of fostering anti-Japanese sentiment through its education system and state-controlled media.

The boy was attacked on Wednesday while on his way to school, marking the second knife assault against a Japanese child in China in less than three months.

Japanese editorials, analysts, and online commentators are placing the blame squarely on the Chinese government, alleging that its policies have contributed to rising xenophobia and violence targeting Japanese nationals.

 

“Under Xi Jinping, education that is aggressively anti-Japanese has become far more common and strong,” said Toshimitsu Shigemura, a professor of politics and international relations at Waseda University.

“Under previous Chinese leaders, that was not always the case,” he told This Week in Asia. “Xi is using this criticism of Japan to build up his own support at a time when the Chinese economy is experiencing some problems, with the policy of ‘love the nation’ designed to protect his own power.”

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has condemned the attack as a “despicable crime” and demanded an explanation from Beijing.

Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa is understood to be seeking a meeting with her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York this week, where she is expected to urge China to implement measures to protect Japanese nationals living in the country.

Yoshifumi Tsuge, a senior vice-foreign minister, flew to Beijing on Sunday with a similar request for the Chinese authorities to do more to ensure the security of Japanese residents.

China has described the attack as an “isolated incident”, with local media reports suggesting that the 44-year-old man detained in connection with the killing, identified only by the surname Zhong, was acting alone. No motive has been given for the attack.

 

Those explanations have done little to quell concern in the expatriate community in China or among onlookers in Japan, while a report attributed to a Chinese newspaper quoting police as saying the boy’s death was an “accident” has further ramped up the anger.

The conservative Sankei newspaper said the “horrific murder” was the consequence of “rising xenophobia and social instability”, but added that the incident had attracted little media coverage in China. The report noted that domestic economic challenges had “contributed to a mood in which it is easier for Chinese to direct their frustrations against foreigners”.

That was particularly the case around the September 18 anniversary of the Mukden incident of 1931, a false-flag attack on a Japanese railway line in Manchuria that Japan used as a pretext for a wider occupation of the region and the subjugation of local people.

Around this year’s anniversary, the Sankei reported that official Chinese media “repeated ‘resist Japan’ historical narratives” and that “Down with Japan” slogans were commonplace on social media.

Interviewing local Chinese laying flowers at the spot where the boy was knifed, the Yomiuri quoted some as being critical of an education system that demonises other countries. One unnamed woman told the newspaper that “the content of many history textbooks stirs up resentment against foreign countries”.

Another said, “We should stop history education that triggers such vengeful thoughts.”

A new law to promote “patriotic education” was enacted in January, with Xi’s thoughts on historic issues to be reflected in new school textbooks to be issued from this autumn.

The centrist Mainichi newspaper also singled out Beijing’s education policies for criticism, suggesting the Chinese government “bears grave responsibility over the fatal attack”. The left-leaning Asahi quoted a Japanese living in China as saying that anti-Japanese sentiment had increased with the spread of social media, but tempered that with examples of Chinese expressing their sorrow for the incident to Japanese colleagues.

Japanese social media has been flooded with condemnation of both the attack and the perceived failure of Chinese authorities to curb rising anti-Japanese sentiment.

“It may be a safe country for the Chinese, but after so many incidents targeting Japanese and other foreigners, I think the Japanese who are stationed there would like to return home. This was almost an act of terrorism, and China cannot be recognised as a safe country,” commented one user on a news story by All Nippon News.

Another user on the Japan Today website wrote, “An ‘isolated incident’ sounds much better than a ‘hate crime’, especially when government propaganda is responsible.”

A further comment read, “The [Chinese Communist Party] has blood on its hands as this hate was created by the CCP’s propaganda machine vilifying Japanese people.”